Bathing apparatus.



No. 795,536. PATENTBD JULY 25, 1905. SLO. NEAL.

BA'IHINGr APPARATUS. APPLIoATloN FILED nu 2. 1904.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BATHING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 25, 1905.

Application filed May 2, 1904. Serial No, 205.864.

To all whom it' 711,04/ concern:

Be it known that I, SARAH C. NEAL, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bathing Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bathing apparatus, and particularly contemplates improvements in the device shown and described in Letters Patent N o. 334,67 4, issued to me January 19, 1886.

The invention has primarily in view a portable and collapsible containing vessel and support for the bathing of babies or small children, although, through increasing the size of the apparatus and the strength or quality of the parts receiving or supporting the weight, it may be adapted for use by adults.

This invention has in view, furthermore, means for relieving the strain upon the rubber cloth or other water-tight material of which the receptacle is made. This cloth is expensive and in order to support the weight of the water or other liquid and the occupant of the bath must be of the best material, and even then its flexible nature and elasticity render the bathing operation an awkward one, largely owing to the fact that the child or occupant is forced by gravity and the character of the material into an unnatural position.

One of the objects of the present invention is therefore to increase the efficiency and durability of the device by relieving the flexible material of all or the major portion of the weight of the occupant and to accomplish this in a manner which will render the receptacle more nearly inflexible during the bathing operation without losing any of the advantages accruing from the flexible and collapsible structure when the device is not in use.

I have furthermore in view improved means for withdrawing the water or other liquid after use, said means being of a substantially permanent character, not easy to get out of order from the mischievous manipulation of a child, which will not tear the material when subjected to the strain imposed by the water and weight of occupant, and which is detachable for renewal of either itself or the iiexible material to which it is secured.

l/Vith these and other ends in view my invention consists in the novel construction,

arrangement, and combination of parts, all as hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

My invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which- Figure l is a central vertical longitudinal section of a bathing apparatus embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof, a portion of the flexible receptacle being cut away to illustrate the'manner of securing the detachable auxiliary supporting means. Fig.- 3 is a detail view in perspective of the preferred form of auxiliary support. Fig. 4 is a similar view of one modification thereof. Fig. 5 is an enlarged partly-sectional view of the means for securing the faucet to the bottom of the receptacle.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, my apparatus preferably comprises a folding or collapsible frame of two pairs of legs or supports, each pair being suitably pivoted together and supporting one side of the device, one pair 2 and 2 of which are shown in Fig'. 1. Theupper extremities of corresponding supports are rigidly and permanently secured to preferably cylindrical cross-bars 3 and 3. The supports 2 and 2 and the opposite and corresponding supports (not shown in the drawings) being pivoted at 4, it will .be

.apparent that this frame is adapted to be closed or collapsed in a manner similar to that of the ordinary and well-known campstool. The receptacle 5 for the water or other liquid may be made of any suitable flexible water-tight material, preferably a good quality of what is known in the trade as rubber clot The receptacle is formed from a single piece or sheet of this cloth,

which is of suflicient dimensions that opposite ends thereof may overlap and be secured in any suitable manner, detachably or permanently, to the cross-bars 3 and 3. In a somewhat similar manner the upper edges of the sides are preferablyfolded orlapped over and secured to straps or bands 6, of canvas or similar material, which connect corresponding eX- tremities of the cross-bars 3 and 3 to limit their outward movement when the frame is open. To this point the above description suggests little that is new over the device previously shown and described by me. I have found, however, that this construction in itself is subject to many disadvantages, among which are the facts that the weight of the water and that of the occupant of the bath produces a severe strain upon the nec essarily soft material of which the receptacle is made and, providing no rigid support, results in the body of the occupant seeking under gravity the lowest point, thereby bringing about an awkward and unnatural position, and that siphoning or the lifting of the entire device is necessary to remove the liquid contents thereof after the bathing operation. In order to relieve the material of which the receptacle is made so far as possible from the weight of the liquid and occupant and to provide at the same time a more nearly inflexible vessel, I have shown in Fig. 3 a supporting-band 7, preferably of heavy canvas or other tough fabric, at each end of which are suitably and permanently secured the preferable metal hooks 8 S. These hooks are designed to detachably engage and be supported by the cross-bars 3 and 3, the flexible material 5 being secured to these bars .in such a manner that sufficient space or openings remain for the insertion of the hooks between. the material 5 and said bars. I do not desire to be limited to a detachable supporting band or strip, as it is obvious that the same may be permanently secured to the bars 3 and 3, if desired. The total length of this supporting-band 7 is made slightly less than the length of the material 5 in order that when said band 7 is properly adjusted upon the frame part of the weight of the water or other liquid in the vessel or receptacle and all of the weight of the occupant are received and taken up by said strap or band.. In this way the material of the receptacle 5 is relieved from by far the larger portion of the strain imposed by the actual use, the receptacle is made much longer lived, and I am enabled to employ in the construction of my apparatus an inferior, and consequently less expensive, grade or quality of rubber cloth without sacrificing any of its merits or value. In Fig. 4 I have shown a modification of this auxiliary support in which a flat, rigid, and preferably wooden plate 9 has suitably secured at each end thereof the wide bands 10 10, of canvas or similar flexible material, which may similarly be provided with hooks 3 S to engage the cross-bars 3 and 3. This construction would have the advantage of furnishing a flat and practically solid support for the occupant of the bath. In fact, a number of different forms of auxiliary supporting means might be suggested, all within the spirit of my invention, and various kinds of material, such as leather or sheet metal, substituted in place of tough fabric, such as canvas.

To facilitate removal of the liquid contents of the receptacle after the bathing operation, I employ a faucet 11, preferably of hard rubber, located at the central and lowest part thereof and provided with the usual thumbcock 12 to open and close the same. I am aware that under ordinary conditions there would be no invention in applying ordinary draining means to the device shown and described by me in the Letters Patent aforesaid. I have found, however, that all known and ordinary means of securing a faucet tothe wall of a flexible containing vessel are impractical when the strains of use are so great. The necessary aperture in the material, the hard substance or material of which the faucet is made, and the strain put upon the walls of the flexible containing vessel during use tend to tear the yielding material at least to the point of producing annoying leakage, if not actually destroying its efficiency, for it is well known that rubber cloth once torn cannot be satisfactorily repaired or again rendered water-tight. I have found that these conditions render necessary the employment of a faucet having essentially novel means for firmly and safely securing the same to the yielding or flexible material. I therefore provide the faucet with a disk or flange 13 at the upper end thereof, which preferably presents a concave face 14. Beyond this disk projects a screw-threaded nipple 15 or extension of the faucet-tube. Adapted to cooperate with the concave disk 13 is the convex disk 16, having a central aperture 17, similarly threaded to receive the threaded nipple or projection 15. The diameter of the disk 16 is preferably slightly less than that of the disk 13, whereby the former may be completely received within the cup formed by the concave face 14 of the latter. The nipple or projection 15 being inserted through a suitable aperture in the flexible material of which the receptacle is made, the disk 16 may then be tightly screwed thereupon to form a perfectly water-tight joint and one in which a sufficient portion of the flexible material is embraced between the two disks to prevent tearing of said material when subjected to the strain of use.

The advantages of detachably securing the faucet to the receptacle are obviousamong others that of permitting the replacement of either faucet or material independently and without skilled labor. A detailed description of the other parts and functions of the faucet would be superfluous, as no attempt has been made to depart from the common and well-known construction.

My apparatus may be equipped with a number of convenient adjuncts-such as the pivoted or hinged rods 18, constituting a common and well-known form of towel-rackwhile a portion of the material of which the receptacle is made may extend beyond the cross-bar at one end or the other of the apparatus and be folded upon itself to form a plurality of ockets or rece tacles for soap, sponge, was -cloth, and ot er articles incidental to the performance of the operation which this device is adapted to facilitate. l less length and Width than material of said These pockets or receptacles are shown in l vessel between its supports.

my prior Letters Patent aforesaid and form no essential part of the present invention.

Many modifications of the minor details of my improved bathing apparatus will doubtless readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art to which it appertains, and l therefore do not desire to limit my invention to the specific details of construction herein shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a device of the class described, the combination with a collapsible frame and a flexible containing vessel secured thereto, of an independent, auxiliary bottom similarly carried by said frame, said bottom being of less length and width than the material of said vessel.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination, with a folding frame and a flexible containing vessel secured thereto and non-interferent with the folding operation, of a suspended auxiliary support for the contents of said vessel cooperating to stiffen the bottom thereof, carried by said frame, and of 8. In a device of the class described, the combination With a collapsible frame, a flexible containing vessel secured thereto, and means for draining said vessel, of a detachable strip of less length and width than the material of said vessel between its supports, cooperating to stiffen the bottom of said vessel and partially relieve the same of the weight of the/contents thereof.

4. In combination, a frame comprising the two pairs of legs pivotally secured to each other and each pair having a supporting-rod therebetween, a flexible containing vessel secured to said rods, a suspended, auxiliary support cooperating to stiffen the bottom of said vessel, carried by said rods, said support being of less length and width than the material of said vessel, and means for draining said vessel.

In testimony of the foregoing l have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

SARAH C. NEAL. Witnesses:

AGNES L. CLUNE, J. F. CAVANAGH. 

